As program director for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA, Gregory L. Robinson often marvels at the mission he is helping to lead. The robotic observatory, which launched in December and was fully deployed last week, is expected to soar nearly a million miles from Earth. Afterward, the revolutionary eye will begin peering back over 13.5 billion years of cosmic history.
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If, as Robinson says, astrophysics is about “looking out there and asking, ‘Where did we come from, how do we fit in this universe?’” then Robinson’s history, his universe, is worth a look.
Born in Danville, Va., Robinson is the third youngest of 11 children. His parents were tobacco sharecroppers. To go from those humble beginnings to program director for a $10 billion space telescope is a phenomenal journey. “As far back as I can remember, I always enjoyed science and math — what my daddy called ‘figuring,’” he said.
Robinson, 62, graduated from Dan River High in 1978. His education began in a racially segregated elementary school; Danville public schools didn’t fully integrate until 1970. But his Black teachers tried hard to compensate for the underfunding of Black schools that characterized the Jim Crow era. A mantra that was drilled into his head — at school, at home and church — was get an education.
“I often reflect on how dedicated, smart, encouraging and supportive they were during that time,” Robinson said of his teachers. “They’d tell us that we could do anything we wanted if we had an education. That appealed to me because I wanted to get out of Danville and have a better life.”
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“I wanted to go to college but didn’t know if I could afford it,” he recalled. Fortunately, along with his knack for math, he’d been a pretty good high school quarterback. He earned himself a football scholarship to Virginia Union University in Richmond, packed two bags, and caught a Greyhound bus to the university.
At Virginia Union, he earned a bachelor’s degree in math. Then he transferred to Howard University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He later earned an MBA from Averett College in Danville and attended Harvard University’s Senior Executive Fellows Program at the Kennedy School of Government.
While attending Howard, he met students who had done internships with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. He was intrigued by what he heard. “They were doing really interesting things, unlocking many secrets, mysteries and unknowns about our solar system, our Earth systems,” he said.
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In 1989, Robinson began working full time for NASA. He’s held many leadership roles at the agency through the years, including NASA’s deputy chief engineer and deputy center director at NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, where he was responsible for planning and organizing missions assigned to the center. In 2018, he was named program director for the Webb telescope project.
The massive endeavor had been experiencing problems with scheduling, cost overruns and technical difficulties. It had been threatened with being canceled, and it might have been if not for the steadfast support of Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), who served on the Appropriations Committee before retiring in 2017.
When I asked Robinson about the problems he faced, he declined to go into specifics. That’s his nature, say those who have worked with him. He neither publicly boasts about his achievements nor criticizes the shortcomings of others. He may issue a written statement about the status of the project, but he tends to keep a low profile. He allows project managers and engineers to serve as the public face of the project.
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“I can tell you what Greg provides in one word: leadership,” said Charles Bolden, who was NASA administrator under President Barack Obama. “Greg was brought in to get this project back on the rails and across the finish line with mission success. His strength is knowing how to surround himself with talented people and let them do what it takes to get the job done.”
“There is no single person responsible for the success of a mission this large and complex, but Greg deserves a lot of credit,” Bolden added. “He was able to get contractors to start toeing the line when others had been thrown from the saddle.”
Robinson said he’s been breathing a little easier since the successful launch and near-flawless unfolding of the telescope’s gigantic mirrors and solar panels during the last two weeks.
More challenges lay ahead before the telescope begins transmitting data and images, but for now, he’s been contemplating the journey — the telescope’s as well as his own. He returns to Danville about twice a year, visiting family members who still live there.
His parents died years ago. “Mom and Dad did not have a formal education, but they were very smart,” he said. “My mother could take a little of anything and make a lot. It’s how we survived.” He wondered how far his parents might have gone if their opportunities had not been circumscribed by race and place.
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But the journey is not over. Robinson lives in Manassas with his wife, Cynthia. They have three daughters — one who received an engineering degree from the University of Virginia and another who has a forensic science degree from Virginia Commonwealth. “The middle daughter doesn’t want anything to do with math or science,” he said. “But her three sons all think they will be the next generation space explorers. I’m really looking forward to see what comes of that.”
Read more from Courtland Milloy